Collecting inspiration north of the Arctic Circle.

I’m just home from a fantastic tour north of the Arctic Circle. To a familiar place just like so many years before. We spent 2 x 10 hours in car both over and under mountains:

all the way from Bergen to Skjerstad in Salten. A fantastic tour. Crossing the Arctic Circle we knew we were almost at our goal.

Outside the Arctic Circle Centre there is a beautiful pillar of local pink marble:

We spent some wonderful, WARM summer days at and around Skjerstad. This was the view from the car-window on the road to Bodø

and one of the bridges over Saltstraumen

Even on a gloomy day ther are beauty in an overgrown garden

And of course, I had to take the usual trip up at my favourite place, Skarvhamran, a very windy hill crest, where the pines grows very slow, gets crooked, old and dies eventually, just to stand as dried sculptures.

And at the top I found these three charming birches:

Well back in Bergen, I headed south to Løkken in Denmark, to celebrate my brothers 70^thbithday. Here was a totally different landscape, no mountains but charming bathing huts at the beach

And turning around I was met by this wonderful blue sea

So many impressions to keep me busy through the winter, hopefully some of it will end in one of my quilts.